Dad and Fam

My father, Russell Crosby, has been preaching God's word since he was 20 years old. After two heart attacks and quadruple bypass surgery, he quit preaching.

That was seven years ago.

Sunday he preached again to his congregation in Turnersville, Texas. He took up that pastorate about two years ago.

I called him Monday morning. "Dad, did you preach Sunday?"

"Yes, I did, David."

"Did you sit while you were preaching?"

"You know, I haven't even thought about it," Dad replied. "I sat last week when I preached, but yesterday I stood up through the whole sermon and serving the Lord's Supper. It's the first time I even thought about it."

Dad's heart works at about 15 percent efficiency. It's been doing that since it was damaged during his last heart attack. He gets tired easily, of course, and he uses oxygen when he can at the doctor's suggestion.

But Dad's greatest medicine is preaching. He sounds better and feels better when he can enter the pulpit and do what he has done all of his adult life--share the truths with others that changed things for him forever.

The Thanksgiving gathering of the Russell and Donna Crosby Family happened this year in Killeen, Texas, at the First Church of the Nazarene where my brother, Joe, is worship leader. Ninety-two family members attended and a dozen others. Dad shared again the story of his own spiritual transformation through faith in Christ. He urged everyone present to follow Jesus Christ as Lord. He talked to us about how faith in Christ was the linchpin of our family.

I am glad that God gave me the gift of parents who were passionate believers in Christ. This rich spiritual heritage has made all the difference in dealing with life's questions and troubles as well as its joys and triumphs. In fact, I find that I love life itself in large measure simply because I have learned a little bit about loving God.

Dad has lived with lots of spiritual passion all these years. His conversion as a young adult was instant, total, and permanent. His perspective on faith in God, his frequent explanation of it, and his implementation of that faith in his own daily life, was the single greatest influence in my own spiritual formation and that of the larger family unit.

I preached on Psalm 34 this past Sunday. I paused as I read these words: Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life, and desires to see many good days...

And I thought to myself--and then said it out loud to the congregation--loving life is not only possible, it is obligatory for those of us who fear the Lord.